The Performance of the Hydrocyclone as a Collecting Unit

Abstract

On the hypothesis that the collection characteristics of the hydrocyclone will depend upon the design of the unit and operating conditions, performance tests were carried out at this Institute using an experimental unit. This paper gives the results of the work, including some suggestions with respect to collection efficiency. The influence of the following factors on the collection efficiency η_c was investigated : (1) Feed inlet velocity ν_i, (2) Diameter of vortex finder D_o, underflow nozzle D_u and cylindrical portion D, (3) Dimension of inlet nozzle √(bh), (4) Effective height of cyclone H_e, (5) Inserted length of vortex finder S, (6) Types of feeding, (7) Pulp density δ_f and particle size of feed slurries d. In addition to the above, the author has shown the following two theoretical formulas : (1) Critical feed inlet velocity corresponding to the maximum collection efficiency η_{c (max)} may be expressed as Eq. (4.4), and (2) Collection efficiency η_c may be expressed as Eq. (4.7).